Podcasts about Green beret

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Let us know what you think!Join Warrior Risings 6 Club and Win a Rogue Fitness Row Machine and Echo Bike!Join the Six Club for $6/month to get entered to Win a Rogue Row Machine and Echo Bike. Sign up using the link below and enter “Security Halt!” in the how did you hear about us field.https://warriorrising.org/6cslc/?utm_source=securityhalt&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=6cslc2026  What did Green Berets learn during the uncertain early days of the Iraq War?In Episode 469 of the Security Halt! Podcast, Deny Caballero sits down with Mark Grdovic to discuss his firsthand experiences as a Green Beret, the realities of operating in Iraq, and the leadership, innovation, and adaptability required when plans collided with the realities of war.Mark shares stories from the early Global War on Terror, including pre-deployment planning, operational secrecy, isolation planning, unexpected challenges in Iraq, team operations, and the decentralized leadership that allows Special Forces teams to adapt in rapidly changing environments.The conversation also explores the importance of preserving Special Forces history. Mark explains why books and firsthand accounts matter, why veterans should document their experiences, and why the stories of the men and women who served during the GWOT era deserve to survive long after the generation that lived them is gone. Listen now. Follow the show. Share this with the veteran or entrepreneur who needs to hear it. Chapters:00:00 Meet Green Beret Mark Grdovic 02:03 Understanding the Bigger Objectives of War 03:20 Why Books Preserve Military History 04:13 The History & Legacy of the Green Berets 06:12 Special Forces Before & After 9/11 08:57 Planning Secret Operations in the Early GWOT 10:43 Isolation Planning & Preparing for the Unknown 13:03 The Unexpected Reality of Iraq 15:21 Secret Missions & Operating With Limited Information 17:50 The Difficult Reality of Deployment 19:39 Learning From Mistakes & Success in Combat 22:52 Green Berets on the Ground in Iraq 29:53 Decentralized Command & Empowering Special Forces Teams 37:36 How Technology Changed Modern Warfare 41:29 Looking Back on Service & Legacy 44:21 Milestones, Uniforms & a Changing Military 45:41 The End of an Era & the Future of Special Forces 47:40 Iraqi Forces & the Challenge of Long-Term Stability 52:48 Why Military Stories Need to Be Preserved 54:41 Your Story Deserves to Be Heard Sponsored by: PRECISION WELLNESS GROUP  Use code: Security Halt Podcast 25 Website: https://www.precisionwellnessgroup.com/ WARRIOR RISING Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wearewarriorrising/?hl=en Website: https://warriorrising.org/ Donate Today: https://warriorrising.org/?form=donate SPECIAL FORCES FOUNDATION Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/specialforcesfoundation_/ Website: https://specialforcesfoundation.org/ Request Help: https://specialforcesfoundation.org/get-support/  Security Halt Mediahttps://www.securityhaltmedia.com/Instagram: @securityhaltX: @SecurityHaltTik Tok: @security.halt.podLinkedIn: Deny CaballeroSupport the showProduced by Security Halt Media

As Fox News reveals only 4% of American voters consider the Iran War their top priority - focusing instead on inflation and the economy - war cheerleaders like Mark Levin and Ben Shapiro insist a "historic victory" is right around the corner despite soaring fuel costs. Meanwhile, new satellite images expose apocalyptic destruction across Gaza as journalists remain blocked from entry. Piers Morgan is joined by Dave Smith (host of Part of the Problem) and Matt Tardio (retired Green Beret & US Army sniper) to debate the true cost of Middle Eastern conflicts, US midterms, and the brutal reality on the ground. He's also joined by Megyn Kelly to talk Gaza, Charlie Kirk, Piers' legal row with Earl Spencer and Madonna at the VMAs. (00:00:00) Introduction  (00:03:09) New images of Gaza on Google (00:06:15) Is the destruction of Gaza proportionate? (00:14:19) GHF aid sites and live fire on hungry civilians (00:22:19) How should Israel fight terrorists in urban areas? (00:24:34) Smotrich, Ben-Gvir and why Israel's PR isn't working (00:30:25) Megyn Kelly on Earl Spencer (00:38:29) Megyn Kelly on Gaza images and Netanyahu (00:42:18) Could Iran war could cost Trump the midterms? (00:45:54) Megyn Kelly slams Madonna at the VMAs Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode, Green Beret veteran Rod Graham sits down to talk through his time in Army Special Forces and what came after leaving that world behind. He shares firsthand insight into the training, mindset, and demands of operating in an elite combat unit. The conversation moves into how that experience shaped his path once the uniform came off, and what the transition out of special operations actually looks like. It's a candid, personal account from someone who lived that world from the inside.

The battlefield is changing faster than ever before. Drones can find you. Technology can expose you. America's adversaries are adapting in weeks instead of years. For U.S. Army Special Forces, rapid evolution while maintaining the people, partnerships, and culture that have made Special Forces effective for generations is the key to success on today's battlefield.From the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Museum at Fort Bragg, Fran Racioppi sat down with the command team of 1st Special Forces Command: Brigadier General Joseph Wortham, Command Sergeant Major Lee Strong, and Chief Warrant Officer 5 Jerry Brown. Together, they lead the US Army's Green Berets, Civil Affairs, Psychological Operations, and the soldiers who enable them. Their mission - prepare, train and equip Army Special Operations Forces to win against an increasingly complex global threat.We discuss whether the legendary 12-man ODA is still the right formation for the wars of 2030 and 2040, and why the future may not require changing its core, but building new capabilities around it. Robotics and unmanned systems are rapidly becoming part of that evolution, including the development of specialized technical expertise designed to keep pace with technology that can change in a matter of weeks.But technology alone will never define Special Forces. We examine where Green Berets are supporting large-scale combat operations, how Special Forces can shape the deep fight for conventional commanders, and why Psychological Operations, Civil Affairs, and trusted partner forces become even more important against peer adversaries. The battlefield may look different from the one this generation fought throughout the Global War on Terror, but the requirement remains the same: create options, influence the fight, and give the joint force an advantage before the enemy ever knows we're there.The next generation of Army Special Operations will fight with tools its predecessors could never have imagined. But its greatest advantage will remain the same: exceptional people, trusted partners, and a culture built to take on the missions others cannot.Highlights:0:00 Introduction 2:23 Welcome to the Jedburgh Podcast 4:05 Importance of Partnerships 8:07 Command Priorities and Readiness 11:41 Evaluating the ODA Structure 20:02 Incorporating Robotics and Unmanned Systems 33:34 Special Forces in LSCO 47:28 Culture of the RegimentQuotes: “We don't like to do anything by ourselves. We do everything with a partner.”“Those partnerships have to be genuine, they have to be authentic.”“It starts by being a genuine, authentic, good partner, not transactional.”“Humans are more important than hardware.”“When you take really good people that are fit, intelligent, of high character, and you assign them a mission, it doesn't really matter what their MOS is."“How much demand can we put on them before they reach the point of saturation?”“It's the smallest package we can get all of the warfighting functions in.”“It cannot be an additional task or an additional hat for someone on the ODA to wear.”“Here's my rifle, here's my NODs, here's my radio, and oh, and here's my drone.”“We're small, we're light, we're fast, we're agile, but we're lethal.”"What we don't bring in mass, we bring in mass through partnerships.”“Although we cannot prepare holistically for what's next, we can get a head start this."“In my opinion, our culture is the best it's ever been.”The Jedburgh Podcast is brought to you by OneBrief; enabling military leaders to make innovative, informed and deliberate decisions faster than ever before. Superhuman command wins wars.Follow the Jedburgh Podcast and the Green Beret Foundation on social media. Listen on your favorite podcast platform, read on our website, and watch the full video version on YouTube as we show why America must continue to lead from the front, no matter the challenge.

Imagery released September 17 showed Green Berets from 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne) at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, arming a small drone with an explosive payload during training conducted on August 14. Officials confirmed the exercise was testing the capabilities and effects of explosive-ordnance attack drones flown via first-person-view feeds, though technical specifics were withheld for operational security. This episode looks at what the release signals about a broader shift in Army special operations doctrine, where low-cost drones are increasingly treated as lethal tools rather than pure ISR assets. We break down what this means for the future of small-unit tactics on the modern battlefield.

What if the reason it's so hard to let go of your stuff isn't that you're disorganized—but that you're a really good storyteller? In this episode of Clutter Free Academy, Kathi Lipp brings together three of her great loves—decluttering, writing, and her longtime friend Susy Flory—for a conversation about the one skill most cluttery people are missing. Kathi's theory? People with clutter aren't bad at storytelling. Pick up almost anything in a cluttered home and the owner can tell you exactly where it came from, who gave it to them, and why it matters. The struggle isn't the story. It's the editing. Susy Flory is a memoirist, collaborator on two New York Times bestsellers, and the founder of Shake Ridge Press, a publishing house devoted to true stories by real people. Her actual job is deciding what stays in the story and what gets cut—which turns out to be exactly what listeners need to learn to do in their homes. Your Home Is Telling a Story. Is It the One You Want to Tell? Kathi and Susy talk about how a home—like a book—can get so crowded with "good stuff" that the reader (or the guest, or you) can't find the heart of it. As Susy puts it, when there's too much in a space, "it's just a pile rather than a storyteller." The goal isn't an empty house. The goal is a home where the things you kept can actually be seen. In This Episode, Listeners Will Learn: Why the object isn't always where the story lives—and how that realization makes letting go so much easier The simple, low-tech tool Susy uses to decide what makes the cut (hint: it involves a pen and paper, not a system) How to handle the inherited things that don't actually tell the story of the person who gave them to you What to do with that mishmash box of photos, letters, and journals someone left behind Why "edit one scene at a time" translates perfectly to "one shelf, one drawer at a time" How to "shop your own house" for meaningful pieces instead of buying something a thousand other people already own Kathi's seasonal rotation trick that keeps sentimental items special instead of letting them fade into background clutter Why outside validation—a safe community—matters just as much in decluttering as it does in writing Permission to Let the Good Stuff Go Writers have a phrase for this: murder your darlings. Sometimes you have to release even the really, really good stuff to get what you actually want. Kathi shares that after years of editing both books and her own home, she rarely regrets what she's let go—and Susy explains why imagination, not willpower, is the tool that finally gets you unstuck. Kathi also gets a preview of the first three memoirs coming out of Shake Ridge Press—stories of a Green Beret who decluttered parts of himself to learn to lead with love, a mom and her autistic adult son on a journey to bring his father home, and a preacher's daughter raising the rule-breaking boy who grew up to become a beloved professional wrestler. Whether you consider yourself a writer or not, this episode offers a fresh, gracious way to look at the stuff in your home: not as a moral failing, but as a first draft. And every first draft gets to be edited.

Neph 2 America is back with another round of cultural commentary, conspiracy discussion, viral clips, Biblical analysis, and end-times conversation with David Lee Corbo, a.k.a. The Raven, and Matthew Hepner.This episode opens with the controversy surrounding Gypsy Crusader's boxing match against Ben Azulay. The hosts break down the fight itself, the crowd reaction, extremist imagery surrounding the event, media coverage, and Gypsy Crusader's claim that the Florida State Athletic Commission changed the rules shortly before the fight. The conversation expands into propaganda, racial division, cultural manipulation, and Matthew 24's warning about nation rising against nation.The episode also covers Milo Yiannopoulos being deported and his comments about the immigration process, followed by reactions to Asmongold discussing ICE and immigration. From there, the conversation shifts to Ryan Reynolds, nostalgia, Hollywood celebrities, the 1980s and 1990s, and how people remember previous generations.Things get deeper when the hosts examine a Jake Shields clip featuring a Green Beret discussing the Charlie Kirk shooting and the controversial “exploding microphone” theory. They analyze the claimed ballistics inconsistencies and debate alternative explanations surrounding the footage. Later, they react to comments from Charlie Kirk's widow concerning Israel, Jewish people, antisemitism, and Christianity.Then comes Flat Earth. The episode dives into claims about NASA, Admiral Byrd, Project High Jump, Antarctica, hidden land, the United Nations map, and whether NASA can be trusted. The conversation also explores dinosaurs, dragons in the Bible, UFO dreams, the Improbable Dreamer, Mud Flood theories, strange skies, swimming, alligators, and viral water videos.Finally, a JD Vance clip launches a detailed Bible discussion about God's work, the end times, and whether the Gospel must reach the whole world before the end. The hosts examine Matthew 24, Colossians 1:5-6, Colossians 1:23, and Romans 10:18 while debating what Scripture means by “all the world” and “the ends of the world.”What do you think about the Gypsy Crusader fight, the Charlie Kirk theory, NASA, Flat Earth, and the Matthew 24 discussion? Drop your take in the comments.► Subscribe for more Biblical analysis, Christian worldview discussions, and conspiracy research through a Biblical lens.Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and everywhere podcasts are available.00:00 Intro01:01 Welcome to Neph 2 America02:46 Upcoming Events, Merch & Truth or Con07:16 Kanye West's Daughter & Kardashian Commentary10:49 Gypsy Crusader Fight22:30 Media Coverage of Gypsy Crusader vs. Ben Azulay29:30 Florida Athletic Commission Changes Fight Rules34:23 Milo Yiannopoulos Deportation47:43 Asmongold, ICE & Immigration55:55 Ryan Reynolds, Hollywood & Nostalgia1:08:03 Charlie Kirk “Exploding Mic” Theory1:19:22 Dinosaurs, Dragons & the Bible1:29:15 Staged Events & Political Spectacle1:31:38 Charlie Kirk's Widow, Israel & Antisemitism1:38:17 Flat Earth, NASA, Admiral Byrd & Antarctica1:47:23 Improbable Dreamer, Mud Flood & Strange Skies1:53:39 Swimming & Viral Water Videos1:57:11 Florida Alligators & Wildlife2:02:32 Water Park Panic & Drowning2:04:39 JD Vance, God's Work & the End Times2:06:23 Matthew 24 & End Times Prophecy2:15:33 Colossians 1 & the Gospel Reaching the World2:21:17 Romans 10:18 & “The Ends of the World”2:22:56 Pangea, Ancient Migration & Biblical QuestionsBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/nephilim-death-squad--6389018/support.Hear it first, hear it ad-free, and watch us live: join the Death Squad on Patreon → https://www.patreon.com/NephilimDeathSquadMembers also get 10–30% off merch.If this episode made you laugh, think, or pray for us, leave a 5-star rating and a review. It's the #1 way new listeners find the show.Seen something you can't explain? Shadow people, Dogman, demons in cans… send your story to NDS Chronicles and we might read it on air: chroniclesnds@gmail.comWear the uniform: https://www.toplobsta.comWatch every episode: https://www.youtube.com/@NephilimDeathSquadX: @NephilimDSquad · @TopLobsta · @DavidLCorboChrist first. Crude humor. No apologies.Nephilimdeathsquad.com 

Men are often told to “be strong.”But what happens when strength becomes an identity a man feels compelled to protect?The Strong Man Trap begins when proving our strength becomes more important than using it well.Strength can mean physical power, endurance, composure, independence, authority, influence, or control. Each can help us protect, provide, lead, and carry responsibility. Each can also become a way to conceal distress, resist correction, control others, or refuse necessary help.Joining Chance and Shaun are three men whose lives have required strength to take very different forms.Brian Churchill is an LAPD Captain and Commander in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve whose career has moved from patrol, gang enforcement, and counterterrorism into leadership development, institutional accountability, governance, and international policy.Dean Goble is a retired Green Beret who spent 20 years in Army Special Forces and now serves the veteran and first-responder community as Director of Philanthropy at Black Rifle Coffee Company.Together, they examine what separates composure from concealment, when endurance outlasts its purpose, and how self-reliance can prevent a man from accepting the help or correction he needs.They also explore how strength should operate when it comes with authority, expertise, or status—and what happens to a man's identity when age, injury, transition, or circumstance changes what he can carry.Perhaps strength becomes a matter of character when a man asks not only what he can do, but what his capacities make him responsible for.The question is not simply whether you are strong.What does your strength serve?

Let us know what you think!Join Warrior Risings 6 Club and Win a Rogue Fitness Row Machine and Echo Bike!Join the Six Club for $6/month to get entered to Win a Rogue Row Machine and Echo Bike. Sign up using the link below and enter “Security Halt!” in the how did you hear about us field.https://warriorrising.org/6cslc/?utm_source=securityhalt&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=6cslc2026  Did you know U.S. Army Green Berets once trained to infiltrate behind enemy lines carrying nuclear weapons?In this debut episode of Special Forces Declassified, a new Security Halt! Podcast segment exploring the history, missions, and people of U.S. Army Special Forces, Deny Caballero examines the Cold War's secretive Green Light teams.These specially trained Green Berets prepared to infiltrate denied territory and employ Special Atomic Demolition Munitions, or SADMs, against critical targets if the Cold War turned into a conflict with the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact. The compact nuclear devices could be transported by individual operators, creating one of the most extraordinary mission sets in Special Forces history. This episode explores the origins of Green Light, tactical nuclear weapons, Special Forces selection and training, infiltration methods, potential targets, nuclear security procedures, the extraordinary risks operators accepted, and the legacy of a mission that remained secret for decades. Listen now. Follow the show. Share this with the veteran or entrepreneur who needs to hear it. Chapters:00:00 The Secret Cold War Stories Nobody Talks About 01:11 Introducing Special Forces Declassified 02:12 Declassified History Using Open-Source Intelligence 03:06 Project Green Light: Green Berets With Nuclear Weapons 04:20 The B-54 SADM: The Green Beret “Backpack Nuke” 05:00 Why the U.S. Developed Tactical Nuclear Weapons 08:25 Atomic Demolition Munitions and Cold War Strategy 10:00 Inside America's Smallest Nuclear Weapon 11:49 What It Took to Train With a Nuclear Device 13:14 Why U.S. Army Special Forces Got the Mission 15:07 Green Light Targets: Bridges, Dams and Tunnels 16:05 The Mission: Stop or Delay a Soviet Advance Sponsored by: PRECISION WELLNESS GROUP  Use code: Security Halt Podcast 25 Website: https://www.precisionwellnessgroup.com/ WARRIOR RISING Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wearewarriorrising/?hl=en Website: https://warriorrising.org/ Donate Today: https://warriorrising.org/?form=donate SPECIAL FORCES FOUNDATION Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/specialforcesfoundation_/ Website: https://specialforcesfoundation.org/ Request Help: https://specialforcesfoundation.org/get-support/   Security Halt Mediahttps://www.securityhaltmedia.com/Instagram: @securityhaltX: @SecurityHaltTik Tok: @security.halt.podLinkedIn: Deny Caballero Support the showProduced by Security Halt Media

Imagery released Sept. 17 showed Green Berets from 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne) at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, preparing an explosive payload on a small drone during training on Aug. 14. Officials said the event tested the capabilities and effects of explosive-ordnance small attack drones flown with first-person-view feeds. Technical details were withheld for operational security. The release fits a wider Army special operations push to treat low-cost drones as lethal tools, not just surveillance sensors.

In this episode I discuss 9 Green Beret principles that apply far beyond Special Forces—from fitness and self-reliance to communication, confidence, leadership, resilience, and competition.Need guidance on building these traits? Check out my new E-book:  Be The Exception: TTM's Personal Development Handbook 9 GB principles: 00:00:00 – Intro 00:03:46 – #1 – Fitness Is the Foundation 00:08:17 – #2 – Look the Part 00:16:26 – #3 – Nobody Is Coming to Save You 00:19:44 – #4 – Communication Skills Are Non-Negotiable 00:28:00 – #5 – Tenacity Is Perishable 00:32:57 – #6 – The Confidence Fairy Doesn't Exist 00:41:11 – #7 – Leadership Is on You 00:44:16 – #8 – Thick Skin Is Not Optional 00:48:10 – #9 – Everything Is a Competition—Questions? Look for bi-weekly Q&A on my stories. I'll answer your questions on IG and here on the podcast.—New SFAS Program (includes 59-page SFAS Personal Dev Guidebook) New Running Program: TTM Run AdvancedNew Selection Prep Program: Ruck | Run | Lift New Hybrid Program: Jacked Gazelle 3.0Ebook: SOF Selection Recovery & Nutrition Guide—TrainHeroic Team Subscription: T-850 Rebuilt (try a week for free!)—PDF programs2 & 5 Mile Run Program - run improvement program w/ strength workKickstart- beginner/garage gym friendlyTime Crunch- Workouts for those short on timeHypertrophy- intermediate/advancedJacked Gazelle- Hybrid athleteJacked Gazelle 2.0 - Hybrid athlete—New partnerships Rice ‘N Grinds (Pride Foods) – 10% off w/ code TTMMegaFit Meals - 10% off w/ code TTMSpoken Supplements: Code terminator_trainingCwench supplements: Code terminator_training—Let's connect:Newsletter Sign UpIG: terminator_trainingYoutubeWebsiteSubstack

Andy Riise is a Mental Performance & Leadership Coach, retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel, keynote speaker, podcast host, and best-selling co-author. A West Point graduate and former Army football player, he spent over 20 years leading Soldiers in high-stakes combat environments. His post-military career in athletics spans MLB, NFL, and collegiate athletics, including the Colorado Rockies, Cincinnati Reds, and, most recently, the Chicago Bears. He's also worked in business, healthcare, higher education, and emergency services. Today, Andy's mission is to equip athletes, leaders, and teams with battle-tested systems to perform under pressure and lead with clarity. He and his wife, Katie, have been married for over 23 years and are raising four active teenagers and young adults in Houston, TX. Connect with Andy: Website: www.andyriise.com Linkedin: @andyriise   Episode Summary: Andy Riise spent over 20 years as a West Point graduate and retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel leading soldiers in combat. That experience — plus five years working alongside Green Berets and Special Forces units — became the foundation for a second career as a mental performance coach, working with the Chicago Bears, Cincinnati Reds, and Colorado Rockies. In this episode, Andy joins Lyndsay Dowd to unpack the "4C Model" of mental toughness (confidence, control, commitment, and challenge), explain the difference between mental toughness and mental fitness, and share how the same training systems that help soldiers and elite athletes perform under pressure can help everyday leaders, teams, and families. He also opens up about the personal side of his mission — inspired by his wife, a special education teacher, and his own kids — and previews his upcoming book, Step Into The Arena.   Key Takeaways: Mental toughness can be trained like a physical skill — it's not something you either have or don't. Andy's "4C Model" breaks mental toughness into confidence, control, commitment, and challenge. Confidence starts with self-talk: you're the author, publisher, and consumer of your own story. Control is about emotional regulation — naming your emotions so they work for you, not against you. People move along a bridge from survival, to resilience, to thriving — and everyone shifts along it daily.   Episode Chapters: 00:00 – Cold open & episode preview 01:25 – Meet Andy Riise: West Point grad, combat veteran, mental performance coach 02:00 – Andy's origin story: growing up in Oakdale, CA, and his path through West Point 03:52 – From the battlefield to the Army's resilience program 05:46 – Five years working with Green Berets and Special Forces 06:27 – The leap into pro sports: NFL, then the Colorado Rockies 07:51 – Mental fitness vs. mental toughness: the survival-resilience-thriving bridge 09:38 – Breaking down the 4C Model: confidence, control, commitment, challenge 11:19 – Why "soft skills" should be called "power skills" 12:04 – Coaching corporate leaders to train like athletes 14:59 – Andy's own podcast, Skull Sessions 16:43 – Sponsor break 18:47 – Defining legacy and the "ripple effect" of mastery 20:22 – What's next: his upcoming book, Step Into The Arena 21:12 – Andy's message to listeners: reach out, he's accessible 22:37 – Closing thoughts and sign-off

Ashley Hunter walked away from investment banking to teach kids how to move. Fifteen years later, Fit Kids operates in 195 schools across 13 states and has reached roughly 500,000 children.   Joe De Sena sits down with Ashley to talk about why kids who already face hard lives every day benefit most from structured physical activity, how her program turns reluctant participants into kids who say burpees are their favorite exercise, and what any parent can do at home with zero equipment and zero money.   Things You Will Learn: Why low-income kids in under-resourced schools lose access to physical activity first, and what Fit Kids does to reverse it. The approach that turns kids who are afraid of exercise into kids who request burpees by name. What any parent can do at home with bodyweight exercises and zero budget to build physical confidence in their children. Tools & Frameworks Covered: Make Fitness the Game: Embed burpees, lunges, and squats inside obstacle courses and relay races so kids associate effort with fun, not punishment. "You Can Do Hard Things. Period.": One sentence, no negotiation. Use it as a universal response when a child says something is too hard. End the conversation there. Free Bodyweight Protocol for Home" Push-ups, burpees, lunges, squats. No equipment. No cost. Available through fitkids.org for any parent who asks.   Chapters: 0:00 Intro: Ashley Hunter has reached 500,000 kids through fitness 1:29 Growing up in Wayzata, Minnesota, with three sisters and a dad who wanted a boy 02:21 From investment banking to teaching to founding Fit Kids 3:44 How Fit Kids started at one school and grew to 195 5:44 Jay Jackson: the Green Beret's son who trained in the dark and disarmed an attacker 7:40 Physical activity teaches kids how to persevere through hard lives 8:43 The hardest part of running Fit Kids: having to say no to schools that need it 10:34 Kids who start the year afraid of exercise and end it asking for more 12:53 What parents without a program can do at home for free 13:46 How Spartan and Fit Kids partner to get kids to races at Dodger Stadium 18:55 The biggest resistance   Ashley Hunter grew up in Wayzata, Minnesota, played sports year-round, and went into investment banking before realizing finance was not where she belonged. She taught school, then founded Circle of Friends (now Ambassadors) to connect young parents with Stanford's Lucile Packard Children's Hospital. Fifteen years ago, she walked onto a school playground and started teaching kids sports after school. That one-school experiment became Fit Kids, now operating in 195 schools across 13 states, serving roughly 30,000 kids per year and approximately 500,000 total. Fit Kids targets low-income children at under-resourced schools, delivering structured physical activity programs where PE budgets have been cut. She has four kids. One of them plays SEC football.   Connect to Ashley: Website: https://fitkids.org/our-team/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashlhunter/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rockfitmom/

There's a sentence that has stopped more writers in their tracks than almost any other: "Memoir doesn't sell." If you've ever sat across from an agent or editor at a conference with a finished, polished manuscript in your lap, you may have heard it — and then watched the conversation end before it started. In this episode of Writing at the Red House, Kathi Lipp sits down with her neighbor (and New York Times bestselling author) Susy Flory, who got so frustrated with that myth that she did something about it: she founded Shake Ridge Press, a memoir-only publishing house. Together they dig into why memoir keeps getting rejected, what publishers are actually trying to say when they say no, and how a writer can take a personal story and turn it into a book a stranger will stay up all night reading. What Listeners Will Take Away Why "memoir doesn't sell" isn't the whole truth — and what's really happening behind that brick-wall response at writers conferences. The "memoir plus" framework — the single concept that separates a personal journal from a publishable book, and why every story can be developed into it. How to stop speaking a different language than publishers — how to lead with the bigger elements of your story so an editor leans in instead of shutting down. How to find your right reader — a simple, low-tech way to test what actually connects, using the faces of the people right in front of you. What a memoir-only publisher is actually looking for — and what a writer should have ready before she reaches out. Your Story Is Not Just Your Story One of the most freeing moments in this conversation comes when Susy explains the shift every memoirist has to make: seeing your life not just as what happened to me, but as a work of art you're creating — one where you have choices. Kathi shares how that shift played out in her own book, The Accidental Homesteader, a book that's about her… but isn't really about her. Susy also pulls back the curtain on three wildly different memoirs releasing this fall — a Green Beret nicknamed "Doom" writing about PTSD and leading with love, a grieving mother and her adult son with autism searching for clues about his dad, and a preacher's daughter who became the biggest fan of her professional-wrestler son. None of them are celebrities. All of them are proof. For the Writer Who's Been Told No As Susy puts it, "We're not here to be dream crushers." If you've been sitting on a story you believe God gave you — and you've been quietly wondering whether anyone in publishing will ever want it — this episode is the encouragement (and the practical next step) you've been waiting for. Listen in, and then go tell your only-you story of God's extravagant love in your life.

Seth Bodnar, a veteran who served as a Green Beret and the former president of the University of Montana, joined “Forbes Newsroom” to discuss his campaign running as an independent in Montana's U.S. Senate race. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 4223 │ September 11, 2026 American soldiers rode horses into battle for the first time since World War II. They had never ridden before. They had eighteen days to learn. WHAT THIS EPISODE COVERS  Scott Kesterson marks the 25th anniversary of September 11th by first remembering the astonishing thirty days of national unity that followed the attacks — Canadians opening their homes to stranded Americans, strangers handing cash to people in need at highway off-ramps, a nation that briefly set aside every division to grieve and help as one — before turning to the story of the Fifth Special Forces Group's Operation Detachment Alphas, twelve-man teams flown into Afghanistan through sandstorm and near-zero visibility to link up with Northern Alliance fighters who had never met them, learning to ride ill-fitting Afghan saddles by force of necessity and calling in the first close-air B-52 support since Vietnam to topple the Taliban regime within a month. Scott reads the actual Special Forces prayer alongside firsthand accounts from Task Force Dagger veterans, documenting the friendly-fire tragedy that killed three Americans on December 5, 2001, and the full casualty accounting of both the Afghanistan war and the original attacks, closing with a memorial prayer written for the 25th anniversary that asks not for an explanation of evil but for the harder peace that carries a scar and still chooses to build. KEY QUESTIONS ADDRESSED  What happened in America during the thirty days following September 11th — and why does Scott argue that the nationwide outpouring of generosity, from Canadian radio callers offering strangers a place to stay to drivers handing cash out their windows, represents one of the most remarkable and under appreciated responses in the nation's history? What was Task Force Dagger, and why did the Fifth Special Forces Group end up riding horses into combat for the first time since World War II — and what does the eighteen-day insertion delay, the improvised tack, and the first close-air B-52 support since Vietnam reveal about how unconventional this fight actually was? What does the full casualty accounting — nearly 3,000 lives lost on 9/11, over 2,400 American service members killed in the twenty-year Afghanistan war that followed — demand of a nation twenty-five years later, and what does Scott's memorial prayer ask for instead of an explanation of the evil behind it? ABOUT BARDSFM BardsFM is a daily independent podcast covering faith, liberty, history, and information warfare. Hosted by Scott Kesterson — combat veteran, documentary filmmaker, and rancher. Over 4,100 episodes and 50 million lifetime downloads. New episodes every weekday. bards.fm This episode was researched and produced under the Spatial Terra Intelligence Methodology (STIM v5) — the analytical framework built by Scott Kesterson — with AI-assisted research synthesis at a 70/30 human/AI authorship ratio, fully disclosed. All analysis, conclusions, and editorial judgments are those of Scott Kesterson. BardsFM's archive includes hundreds of episodes on prayer, scripture, and walking the Way of Christ — available free in the full episode catalog. DOWNLOADS Citizen's Guide - Community Organizing Against Data Centers: click here Citizen's Guide - Auditing Automatic License Plate Readers: click here Citizen's Guide - Auditing Your State's Driver License Data: click here AFFILIATE LINKS Bards Nation Health Store: www.bardsnationhealth.com MYPillow promo code: BARDS >> Go to https://www.mypillow.com/bards and use the promo code BARDS or... Call 1-800-975-2939.  EMPShield protect your vehicles and home. Promo code BARDS: Click here Treadlite Broadforks...best garden tool EVER. Promo code BARDS26: TreadliteBroadforks.com EnviroKlenz Air Purification, promo code BARDS to save 10%: www.enviroklenz.com Morning Intro Music Provided by Brian Kahanek: www.briankahanek.com Founders Bible 20% discount code: BARDS >>> TheFoundersBible.com Windblown Media 20% Discount with promo code BARDS: windblownmedia.com White Oak Pastures Grassfed Meats, Get $20 off any order $150 or more. Promo Code BARDS: www.whiteoakpastures.com/BARDS Mission Darkness Faraday Bags and RF Shielding. Promo code BARDS: Click here DONATIONS: If you wish to support this podcast directly you can donate here... DONATE: Click here MAILING ADDRESS: Xpedition Cafe, LLC Attn. Scott Kesterson 591 E Central Ave, #740 Sutherlin, OR  97479

CannCon and Alpha Warrior push through a rough night, Alpha fighting off a family cold and CannCon wrangling in studio tech, before landing on the heart of the show. A viewer donation leads them into the story of a Green Beret who enlisted after losing his childhood best friend on 9 11, told through his wife's memoir of their short life together. It is one of the more emotional segments the show has done. From there they shift into lighter territory, swapping cop stories, boot camp memories, and reacting to a Gateway Pundit piece on a prosecutor's parting shot at administration officials over evidence standards. Alpha also drops a candid, almost eulogy style reflection on his own close calls that has CannCon telling him to clip it. It is tribute, banter, and a little bit of gallows humor, all wrapped into one SITREP.

This week on O'Connor & Company, we're marking a somber anniversary - 25 years since the September 11th terrorist attacks. But amidst the reflections on that fateful day, the conversation takes a sharp turn into the present, tackling the pressing issues of our time. From the rise of socialism in America to the growing threat of Islamist ideology, this episode is a must-listen for anyone concerned about the state of our nation. We delve into the complexities of the 9/11 anniversary, discussing the lessons we've learned from that pivotal moment in history. We're also joined by Cal Thomas, a syndicated columnist, who shares his personal experience of the attacks and offers a candid assessment of the current state of the Republican Party. Meanwhile, Mike Gonzalez of the Heritage Foundation weighs in on the controversy surrounding the Smithsonian's woke-ification and the need to reclaim American heritage. As the conversation unfolds, we're reminded that the threat of terrorism hasn't disappeared, but has evolved into a more insidious form. Dr. Sebastian Gorka, Senior Director for Counterterrorism at the National Security Council, shares his expertise on the Red-Green Alliance and the dangers of Islamist ideology. We also explore the growing concern about the infiltration of Islamist ideology in the US, particularly in areas like Michigan and Texas. In this episode, we're also joined by Congressman Andy Harris, who discusses the battle over redistricting in Maryland and the state of the Republican Party. Additionally, Nick Freitas, a Green Beret combat veteran and former Virginia delegate, shares his insights on the rise of socialism in America and the need for a more nuanced understanding of the threat posed by Islamist ideology. With so much at stake, this episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in staying informed about the issues that matter most.Become a Townhall VIP member with promo code "LARRY": https://townhall.com/subscribeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Alex Fitzgerald got the keys to his first factory on January 6, 2025. Eighteen months later Isembard has 14 factories across the US, the UK, France and Germany, just under 100 people, and a business model nobody in this industry has run at scale. Ten of those factories he doesn't own. They belong to franchisees. The franchise piece is the part I keep turning over. Before he started, Alex went through the McDonald's franchisee process himself, worked in a restaurant, got all the way to an interview with the chief restaurant officer for the UK. He doesn't look at McDonald's and see a burger business. He sees heat treatment and assembly, run to the same SOPs in every location, for a customer who knows exactly what he's getting. That's the bet. Build the systems once, then hand them to people who own their own shops. I gave a talk at the Top Shops Conference back in 2017 arguing something close to this. Even if you never open a second location, run your shop as if there's one a thousand miles away that you'll never visit. If it only works because you're standing in it, it doesn't really work. Most shops fail that test, and Alex named the reason. Too much of the business lives in the owner's head. We get into the practical side too. How he found his first four people, why he spends about half his week hunting for the next one, the hiring process that ends with a candidate standing in front of the entire company, how work gets funneled across 14 sites, and the two setbacks that actually hurt, an AS9100D audit and a machine crash. You may never franchise your shop. But the systems thinking here is 10% worth the hour. What's Covered in this Episode (0:00) Learn more about Alex Fitzgerald and his journey to Isembard (4:24) What Isembard makes in 14 factories (and the franchise model behind the growth) (7:39) The two books that made him care about manufacturing and the manual mill course that sealed it (9:56) The MakingChips machine giveaway with DN Solutions and Kennametal (10:41) Sourcing locations, hiring great people, and finding customers (14:57) Sean in Exeter, from a LinkedIn DM to a live factory in under 90 days (17:09) Justin, the Green Beret who ran a Chick-fil-A, and the first US factory in Dallas Fort Worth (18:52) The two kinds of franchisee, new builds and conversions, and what they screen for (21:55) Take your shop to the next level with DN Solutions + automation (23:07) Building a business development team that goes and gets demand instead of waiting for it (26:39) How the SOPs got written, and making the happy path the only path (28:16) My 2017 Top Shops talk on shop franchising, and why consistency is the product (29:46) The real problem with most shops—everything lives in the owner's head (32:16) How they've been able to hire 100 people in 18 months (35:41) Kennametal's Next Level Shop at IMTS 2026 (37:13) Narrowing down machines to purchase versus work they're winning (38:31) The two setbacks that stuck: The AS9100D audit and the machine crashes (40:58) Map the employee journey like a customer journey—including the way people leave (44:21) How Alex funded this franchising venture with investors (45:54) How work gets funneled across the network and what a franchisee does with overflow (48:00) The franchisee conference Alex launched for training  (50:09) Vibe coded internal tools and hiring software people from outside manufacturing Resources Mentioned Isembard MakingChips Machine Giveaway DN Solutions Kennametal IMTS Freedom's Forge Material World by Ed Conway The E-Myth Manufacturing Technology Centre Connect with Alexander Fitzgerald Isembard Connect on LinkedIn Mention mastery2026 for an exclusive discount

Retired Colonel Justin Sapp was a Green Beret detailed to the CIA after the September 11th terrorist attacks. He was part of Team Alpha, the first eight Americans to drop behind enemy lines into the mountains of Afghanistan. At 29, Justin was its youngest member. There was no time to onboard him, and he was told he was leaving the next day, departing from the DC area to a base in Uzbekistan, then touching down in northern Afghanistan on a Black Hawk helicopter. Justin would go on to clear the way for follow-on forces to land, secure alliances with warlords to oust the Taliban, interrogate enemy fighters who had been captured. He would also tragically lose his colleague, Johnny “Mike” Spann. Justin takes us back into that historic mission 25 years later.  Subscribe to Sasha's Substack, HUMINT, to get more intelligence stories: https://sashaingber.substack.com/ and https://www.youtube.com/@sasha-ingber  For more information about the International Spy Museum, visit: https://www.spymuseum.org/ And if you have feedback or want to hear about a particular topic,  you can reach us by email at spycast@spymuseum.org. This show is brought to you by N2K Networks, Goat Rodeo, and the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC. This episode was produced by Flora Warshaw and the team at Goat Rodeo. At the International Spy Museum, Mike Mincey and Memphis Vaughan III are our video editors. Emily Rens is our graphic designer. Joshua Troemel runs our SPY social media. Amanda Ohlke is our Director of Adult Education and Mira Cohen is the Vice President of Programs. 

Episode 4217 │ September 7, 2026 A German court ruled that Suno isn't creating music, it's memorizing it. Brian Kahanek says that ruling reshapes the next decade of creative AI. WHAT THIS EPISODE COVERS  Scott Kesterson sits down face to face for the first time with Brian Kahanek — former senior audio engineer for Disney and the composer behind tracks in Guitar Hero — recorded during Brian's visit to help build out BardsFM's new studio, opening with a breakdown of a German court ruling against AI music platform Suno that classified its output as memorization rather than creative work, a legal distinction Brian argues will define the next decade of disputes over authorship, accountability, and who bears responsibility when a tool generates content its user then claims as their own. The conversation moves through parallel accountability debates — a guitar string company caught using a fully AI-generated song in an ad while a musician lip-synced along, Fender's aggressive trademark enforcement against small American guitar makers after winning a case against Chinese counterfeiters, and Marshall and Gibson's decline from craftsmanship-driven brands into declining-market products chasing quarterly growth — before landing on Brian's practical distinction: AI is a legitimate tool for a musician who lacks access to session players or a full studio, but a person prompting a song into existence with zero musical background is not a composer, any more than someone reading a special forces manual is a Green Beret. The episode closes on Brian's new album, The Long Return Volume One, four stream-of-consciousness tracks recorded in single unedited takes running up to fifteen minutes each, deliberately breaking the industry's three-to-five-minute format as an act of creative and spiritual healing after years of information-war fatigue. KEY QUESTIONS ADDRESSED  What did the German court actually rule in the case against Suno — and why does classifying AI-generated music as memorization rather than creative work matter more than it sounds, given that Suno's own legal defense shifts all responsibility for copyright violation onto the end user? What is the difference between a musician using AI to fill a gap they can't otherwise afford — a session player they can't hire, a studio they can't access — and someone with no musical background prompting a complete song into existence, and why does Brian argue the second person is not a composer no matter how good the result sounds? What does Brian's new album The Long Return Volume One — four unedited, single-take tracks running up to fifteen minutes with no AI involvement — represent as a deliberate rejection of both industry format conventions and AI-generated content, and why does he describe the process itself as personal healing rather than a commercial release? ABOUT BARDSFM BardsFM is a daily independent podcast covering faith, liberty, history, and information warfare. Hosted by Scott Kesterson — combat veteran, documentary filmmaker, and rancher. Over 4,100 episodes and 50 million lifetime downloads. New episodes every weekday. bards.fm This episode was researched and produced under the Spatial Terra Intelligence Methodology (STIM v5) — the analytical framework built by Scott Kesterson — with AI-assisted research synthesis at a 70/30 human/AI authorship ratio, fully disclosed. All analysis, conclusions, and editorial judgments are those of Scott Kesterson. BardsFM's archive includes hundreds of episodes on prayer, scripture, and walking the Way of Christ — available free in the full episode catalog. DOWNLOADS Citizen's Guide - Community Organizing Against Data Centers: click here Citizen's Guide - Auditing Automatic License Plate Readers: click here Citizen's Guide - Auditing Your State's Driver License Data: click here AFFILIATE LINKS Bards Nation Health Store: www.bardsnationhealth.com MYPillow promo code: BARDS >> Go to https://www.mypillow.com/bards and use the promo code BARDS or... Call 1-800-975-2939.  EMPShield protect your vehicles and home. Promo code BARDS: Click here Treadlite Broadforks...best garden tool EVER. Promo code BARDS26: TreadliteBroadforks.com EnviroKlenz Air Purification, promo code BARDS to save 10%: www.enviroklenz.com Morning Intro Music Provided by Brian Kahanek: www.briankahanek.com Founders Bible 20% discount code: BARDS >>> TheFoundersBible.com Windblown Media 20% Discount with promo code BARDS: windblownmedia.com White Oak Pastures Grassfed Meats, Get $20 off any order $150 or more. Promo Code BARDS: www.whiteoakpastures.com/BARDS Mission Darkness Faraday Bags and RF Shielding. Promo code BARDS: Click here DONATIONS: If you wish to support this podcast directly you can donate here... DONATE: Click here MAILING ADDRESS: Xpedition Cafe, LLC Attn. Scott Kesterson 591 E Central Ave, #740 Sutherlin, OR  97479

In late August, Green Berets ran Polish special forces through a new exercise at Hohenfels that treated the sky itself as the threat: crossing a simulated front, moving roughly sixty miles, and hitting a target with a drone while more than a hundred "enemy" aircraft hunted them the whole way. This episode looks at why the story here isn't that drones exist, but that NATO is finally training operators to move and think as if they're being watched from above at every moment. It's a window into how situational awareness has to evolve when the threat isn't on the ground anymore, but overhead.

In late August, U.S. Green Berets put Polish special forces through a first-of-its-kind NATO exercise: crossing a simulated front line, covering roughly sixty miles, and striking a target with a drone while more than a hundred enemy aircraft searched for them overhead. This episode examines why the exercise matters less for its use of drones and more for what it signals — NATO allies are now training as if constant aerial surveillance is a baseline threat, not an exception. It's a look at how tradecraft and evasion have to adapt when there's nowhere left to hide from the sky.

This week we'll be loading up on guns and bringing friends, in order to let off some steam and take part in the most extreme version of bring your daughter to work day. Yes, it's CommandoAnd joining me to eat Green Berets for breakfast is Ashley Blaker and Steve Hall Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

late August, Green Berets put Polish special forces through a new U.S. exercise at Hohenfels: cross a simulated front, move about sixty miles, and hit a target with a drone while the “enemy” hunts them with more than a hundred aircraft. It is the first time a NATO ally has run the scenario. The story is not that drones exist. It is that NATO is finally training as if the sky is an opponent.

Twenty-five years after 9/11, the Pech Valley represents the war in miniature: outposts meant to shield Afghan villages that instead drew the fighting to their doorsteps, built for reasons nobody manning them could explain. Wesley Morgan spent a decade finding out why. Wesley Morgan is the author of The Hardest Place: The American Military Adrift in Afghanistan's Pech Valley, winner of the 2022 Colby Award. He first embedded in the Pech as a college student in 2010 and later covered the Pentagon for Politico. We discuss… How a timber dispute became the Korengal — one Green Beret team refused the bait, the next took it, and Big Taliban followed The three tribes of the war in the east — conventional forces, Green Berets, and the JSOC task force, each fighting its own war in the same valleys Ten thousand beanie babies and record artillery expenditure — how measures of performance swallowed measures of effectiveness Black Hawk Down, Ghost Recon, and the making of multicam — how Crye sold the camouflage of the elite through video games because it couldn't advertise its Delta contract The death of the embed — Rumsfeld overruling Colin Powell, the 2013 shutdown, and why influencers in the briefing r4om beat reporters in the field Whether the Army learned anything at all — disbanding the Asymmetric Warfare Group, rebuilding short-range air defense from zero, and Ukraine as the excuse to never say "Afghanistan" again Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Born during our nation's Bicentennial year in rural Montana, Jay's journey through to our Semiquincentennial has been an amazing one, from service as an Army National Guard soldier to Green Beret, and retiring after 23 years of service. He is the recipient of two Purple Heart medals for wounds received in combat. He has served in deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan, and South America. Our library of shows can be found at www.veteranscornerradio.comJoin us on Facebook at the page Veterans Corner RadioYou can contact our host Joe Muhlberger at joseph.muhlberger@gmail.com

Twenty-five years after 9/11, the Pech Valley represents the war in miniature: outposts meant to shield Afghan villages that instead drew the fighting to their doorsteps, built for reasons nobody manning them could explain. Wesley Morgan spent a decade finding out why. Wesley Morgan is the author of The Hardest Place: The American Military Adrift in Afghanistan's Pech Valley, winner of the 2022 Colby Award. He first embedded in the Pech as a college student in 2010 and later covered the Pentagon for Politico. We discuss… How a timber dispute became the Korengal — one Green Beret team refused the bait, the next took it, and Big Taliban followed The three tribes of the war in the east — conventional forces, Green Berets, and the JSOC task force, each fighting its own war in the same valleys Ten thousand beanie babies and record artillery expenditure — how measures of performance swallowed measures of effectiveness Black Hawk Down, Ghost Recon, and the making of multicam — how Crye sold the camouflage of the elite through video games because it couldn't advertise its Delta contract The death of the embed — Rumsfeld overruling Colin Powell, the 2013 shutdown, and why influencers in the briefing r4om beat reporters in the field Whether the Army learned anything at all — disbanding the Asymmetric Warfare Group, rebuilding short-range air defense from zero, and Ukraine as the excuse to never say "Afghanistan" again Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

mid-August, 10th Special Forces Group inserted men and ATVs by Chinook onto St. Lawrence Island as part of Operation Polar Dagger 2026. The exercise was not a photo op. It was a rehearsal for putting a mobile special-operations presence into the Bering Strait with almost no infrastructure, within sight of Russian territory, and it tells you more about what U.S. special forces are being rebuilt to do than another raid anecdote ever will.

"Every convenience has a cost. How much privacy, independence and freedom are you willing to give up in exchange for safety." In this episode of The Gun Experiment, we sit down with Matt Larsen, widely known for his work developing modern military combatives, to explore competing ideas of fairness, social mobility, privacy, and personal freedom. We discuss whether “fair” means equal outcomes or equal opportunity, how family values and social class shape a person's prospects, and why convenience can quietly come at the expense of independence. We also examine commercial surveillance, geofencing, license-plate readers, cashless businesses, and the possibility of a privately enforced social-credit system. The conversation then turns to violence and combat psychology. Matt Larsen explains why trained professionals often avoid unnecessary fights, how adrenaline affects performance, and why controlled aggression is different from posturing. He also breaks down the distinction between the Army Rangers and Special Forces before explaining the fundamentals of small-unit tactics. Finally, we look at drones and the modern battlefield, including how autonomous systems may increase surveillance, reshape infantry tactics, and make even small groups of people vulnerable targets. Call to Action 1. Join our mailing list: Thegunexperiment.com 2. Subscribe and leave us a comment on Apple or Spotify 3. Follow us on all of our social media: Instagram   Youtube 4. Grab some cool TGE merch 6. Ask us anything at AskMikeandKeith@gmail.com 5. Be sure to support our show sponsors; they are a big part of making the show possible. Show Sponsors HSM Ammunition: We use HSM for dependable ammunition, consistent quality control, and responsive customer service. Visit hsmammunition.com or look for the orange HSM logo at your local gun shop. Spartan Armor Systems: Spartan has supported the show with ceramic and steel plates, ballistic helmets, and other protective gear. Visit SpartanArmorSystems.com for current specials and giveaways. Key Takeaways Matt Larsen argues that modern political disagreements often come from different definitions of fairness, with one side emphasizing equal outcomes and the other emphasizing opportunity and justice at 08:48. Social class is shaped by more than money. Family attitudes, work ethic, expectations, and values can determine whether someone can move into a different social environment at 13:07. Privacy is increasingly traded for convenience. Phones, commercial data, cameras, and geofencing can reveal movements and associations at 22:22. Matt Larsen says the surveillance state is unlikely to disappear, and that social-credit-style systems may emerge through private companies rather than direct government action at 31:30. A free society still has to balance safety, privacy, and convenience. The group debates whether people are willing to surrender freedom because modern life is easier at 38:36. Trained professionals understand that capability and violence are not the same thing. Matt Larsen explains why disciplined soldiers avoid unnecessary fights and keep themselves out of bad situations at 54:28. Combat performance depends heavily on managing fear, adrenaline, and energy. Poor preparation can cause a fighter to burn out early at 48:42. Matt Larsen explains that Rangers are primarily an elite raid force, while Special Forces, or Green Berets, specialize in training and supporting indigenous forces at 01:02:30. Small-unit tactics can be scaled from a few people to a larger military organization. The basic principle is coordinating fire and movement to create an advantage at 01:17:00. Drones may reduce the ability to move, evacuate casualties, or gather in groups on the battlefield. Even with advanced technology, people still have to occupy and control ground at 01:24:03. Guest Information Matt Larsen is a former Ranger and military combatives instructor. He discusses hand-to-hand combat training, warrior culture, small-unit tactics, military history, combat psychology, and the effects of drones and surveillance on modern warfare. You can find Matt Larsen on Instagram at @combatives and on Substack by searching for Matt Larsen. Keywords The Gun Experiment, Stereo Mix podcast, Matt Larsen, military combatives, modern combatives, Army Rangers, Special Forces, Green Berets, small-unit tactics, fire and maneuver, combat psychology, controlled aggression, self-defense training, violence prevention, personal safety, gun ownership, firearms training, surveillance technology, privacy and freedom, geofencing, license-plate readers, social credit system, artificial intelligence, AI warfare, autonomous drones, drone warfare, modern battlefield, military strategy, tactical training, social class, fairness and equality, equal opportunity, convenience and freedom, Second Amendment rights, HSM Ammunition, Spartan Armor Systems

For the second entry this week, I dive into a double feature on some pre-Rambo esque films that are both rather interesting watches: The 1955 classic Neo-Western Bad Day at Black Rock and the 1980 rather goofy Ruckus starring Dirk Benedict (The A-Team, original BSG).   We then conclude the minisode with a brief overview on the Rambo Novel itself, how the title character is actually portrayed as an unstable villain in that version & how it was so easy back then for many to portray a violent Green Beret returning to normal life before the actual film came out!   CLIP USED: Sylvester Stallone- 2005 Howard Stern Interview   SONG USED: "It's a Long Road" by Dan Hill (First Blood OST)

What happens when the mission ends—but the hardest battle is just beginning? In this powerful episode of The MisFitNation, host Jake welcomes Chief Warrant Officer 4 (Ret.) Michael Carmichael, a retired U.S. Army Green Beret with 26 years of service, including 22 years in Special Forces and 10 combat deployments across Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and the Middle East. After retiring from one of America's most elite military units, Michael faced an enemy he never expected: isolation, loss of purpose, depression, and suicidal thoughts. Instead of surrendering to that battle, he founded Check A Vet, a nonprofit dedicated to preventing veteran suicide through community, accountability, education, and meaningful human connection. Together, Jake and Michael discuss: • Life inside the U.S. Army Special Forces (Green Berets) • The difficult transition from military service to civilian life • PTSD, moral injury, and the invisible wounds of war • Why loneliness is one of the greatest threats facing veterans today • The reality behind veteran suicide statistics • Leadership lessons forged in combat and carried into everyday life • How families, friends, and civilians can recognize warning signs and help • Why simply checking on someone can save a life This episode is an honest conversation about resilience, purpose, service, and hope. Whether you're a veteran, active-duty service member, first responder, military family member, or someone who wants to better understand the challenges facing those who served, this discussion offers insight that could make a lasting impact. If this episode resonates with you, please follow The MisFitNation, leave a five-star review, and share this conversation with someone who needs to hear it. Remember: No veteran should ever fight alone. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 2017, journalist Katie Sanders discovered an episode of a radio program called This Is Your Life. It was a scratchy recording from 1949, and she heard the voice of 2nd Lt. Murray Simon, her grandfather, for the first time. In the episode, Murray was reunited with a man named Peter Ortiz, who had rescued him after his plane crashed over Nazi-occupied France in 1944. Ortiz became one of the most decorated Marine officers of World War II, undertaking missions now handled by units like the Navy SEALs and Green Berets. Katie and Nicholas Reynolds, a former CIA historian, went on to write Ortiz's War. Subscribe to Sasha's Substack, HUMINT, to get more intelligence stories: https://sashaingber.substack.com/ and https://www.youtube.com/@sasha-ingber  For more information about the International Spy Museum, visit: https://www.spymuseum.org/ And if you have feedback or want to hear about a particular topic,  you can reach us by email at spycast@spymuseum.org. This show is brought to you by N2K Networks, Goat Rodeo, and the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC. This episode was produced by Flora Warshaw and the team at Goat Rodeo. At the International Spy Museum, Mike Mincey and Memphis Vaughan III are our video editors. Emily Rens is our graphic designer. Joshua Troemel runs our SPY social media. Amanda Ohlke is our Director of Adult Education and Mira Cohen is the Vice President of Programs.

Rick Alexander is a depth-psychological counselor, psychedelic practitioner, and interfaith spiritual care provider currently completing his Ph.D. in Mythology/Depth Psychology and a former Naval Special Operations combat medic. Rick was a Special Operations combat medic until a single psychedelic experience shattered his worldview and sent him back to school to study psychedelic spiritual care. He and Dr. Mike dig into neuroplasticity windows, why “good trip/bad trip” is the wrong question, and what may really be happening in DMT space. Expect to learn how a rough teenage salvia trip and a later psilocybin experience redirected Rick's entire career, what life is really like as a Special Operations Combat Medic supporting SEALs and Green Berets, why military training narrows emotional range and makes civilian re-entry so hard, how integration (not the trip itself) determines whether a psychedelic experience heals or destabilizes you, what the "third wave" of psychedelic science gets right that the DSM's "hallucinogen" label gets wrong, whether neuroplastic windows could help athletes learn skills faster, and what a brutal 5-MeO-DMT experience taught Rick about his own running form and breathing. Connect with Rick: Website Instagram Episodes you'll enjoy next: #47 — Tools to Down-Regulate in Response to Stress (an earlier conversation with Rick Alexander): Listen here #194 — The Pros and Cons of Psychedelic Compounds with Psychedelic Researcher Rebekah Senanayake: Listen here Episode Timestamps: 2:49 – Rick's PhD progress and the psychedelic experience that redirected his career 3:38 – A rough first psychedelic experience with salvia at 18 4:46 – The psilocybin experience that "peeled back" his worldview 7:00 – Life as a Special Operations Combat Medic supporting SEALs and Green Berets 8:23 – How military training narrows emotional range and worldview 10:01 – Why veterans struggle to re-enter civilian life after specialized training 13:34 – The double-edged sword: psychedelics can destabilize as easily as they heal 14:32 – The "third wave" of psychedelic science and the flawed DSM "hallucinogen" label 23:49 – Integration: do you have time to process what comes up? 24:43 – "Psychedelic myth-making" and building a new personal mythology 31:05 – Could neuroplastic windows help athletes learn skills faster? 37:01 – Yogic energy channels (nadis) and psychedelics amplifying subtle perception 39:17 – How a brutal 5-MeO-DMT trip changed Rick's running form and breathing 56:16 – What's really happening in DMT space: Strassman, Gallimore, and "reality switch technologies" 59:43 – Henri Corbin's "psycho-cosmology": consciousness and reality as mirrored levels 1:06:45 – "Functional consequentialism": why you shouldn't dismiss someone else's experience 1:10:46 – Where to find Rick and his counseling and breathwork work Get the Daily Fitness Insider newsletter (free): https://www.miketnelson.com/newsletter

On episode 182, I'm joined by actor and Marine Corps veteran Michael Broderick. Michael has built the kind of career a lot of actors dream about but not overnight, not through some clean, easy path. He built it by staying in the work. He's been on shows like 24, NCIS, True Detective, The Terminal List, American Horror Story, and a whole lot more. In this conversation, we talk about what it actually looks like to become a working actor: the classes, the auditions, the co-stars, the guest stars, the momentum, the mistakes, the luck, and the preparation required to be ready when the opportunity finally shows up. We also talk about Michael's journey from theater kid in Spring Lake, New Jersey, to the Marine Corps, to New York, Los Angeles, and now Nashville — and how his military background helped him first break into the industry through military advising and special-ability work on set. But the heart of this episode is storytelling. Michael talks about the joy of being on set, the discipline of staying in class, the humility of serving the story, and what it means to come full circle by bringing Last Out: Elegy of a Green Beret back to the Spring Lake Theatre, the same place where he first fell in love with performing more than forty years ago. Topics Include: Building a working acting career after the Marine Corps Breaking into Hollywood through military advising and special-ability work Landing a role on 24 through preparedness meeting opportunity The grind of co-stars, guest stars, auditions, classes, and momentum Why actors have to “stay in class” and keep training Working on True Detective, The Terminal List, Jarhead, and more The difference between serving the story and trying to steal the scene Finding joy in the privilege of being on set Michael's experience in New York City on 9/11 Returning home to Spring Lake Theatre with Last Out: Elegy of a Green Beret How storytelling opens conversations between veterans, families, and civilians Episode Sponsors: VM Merch Go Pills -- use "VM15" at checkout for 15% off your order. BUBS Naturals -- use "veteranmade" at checkout for 20% off your order. True Made Foods -- use "VET" at checkout for 15% off your order. Ruck Sox -- use "VETERANMADE15" at checkout for 15% off your order. Bravo Actual -- use "Veteran Made" at checkout for 15% off your order. Intro Song composed and produced by Cleod9. SOCIALS: https://www.instagram.com/veteranmade.ck/ https://www.instagram.com/thatbroderick/

Before Scott Mann walks into any high-stakes conversation…a negotiation with the Taliban, a pitch to a skeptical investor, a hard conversation with someone he loves… he asks himself three questions. Not a script. Not a tactic. Three questions that determine whether the person across from him actually trusts what comes out of his mouth next. Most people skip straight to what they're going to say. Scott and his guest, Chris White, will tell you that's the mistake. Influence isn't won in the words. It's won before you ever open your mouth. That's why I brought both of these guys back on the Coming Up Clutch with J.R.™ show. Scott is a retired Green Beret who spent decades building trust in combat zones, where influence was the difference between life and death. Chris is a serial entrepreneur and business coach who's watched hundreds of deals die in the room…not from a bad pitch, but from a missing connection. This conversation gets into what actually makes someone trust you, why most leaders are working twice as hard for half the impact, and the discipline both these men say is non-negotiable before you ever try to influence anyone else. In this episode, you'll hear: The three questions Scott runs through before every high-stakes conversation Why real leadership starts with reconnecting with yourself, not managing your image The role of storySELLING in building trust, influence, and business growth The #1 shift that changes how people respond to you almost instantly KEY QUOTES "We follow leaders who are relatable to our pain and relevant to our goals." - Scott Mann "Turn your phone off and ask better questions. Go deeper." - Chris White CONNECT WITH SCOTT Scott's Linktree to all social profiles, podcast, and resources: https://linktr.ee/rooftop_leadership Websites: https://scottmann.com/ https://rooftopleadership.com/ http://theheroesjourney.org/  https://lastoutplay.com/  https://operationpineappleexpress.com/ https://operelief.org/ TEDx Talks: The Generosity of Scars: https://youtu.be/_szAosvdWdM Rooftop Leadership: https://youtu.be/M78sDuehUnk Surrounded on Purpose: https://youtu.be/61eEC1-L6RI CONNECT WITH CHRIS Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/coach-chris-white/ Website: https://www.coachchris.io/ NEXT STEPS Listen to the full episode: https://jamesreid.com/scott-mann-chris-white-cuc Want to bring your best home more consistently? Take the Invisible Four™ Assessment and uncover what's quietly blocking you: https://jamesreid.com/assessment Follow J.R. on Social (@jamesJRreid): Facebook | Instagram | Linkedin | X | YouTube Visit J.R.'s website: https://jamesreid.com RATE & REVIEW this episode on Apple: https://jamesreid.com/review. We'd love it if you could drop a review or 5-star rating! Simply select "Ratings and Reviews" and "Write a Review" then a quick line with your favorite part of the episode. It only takes a second and it helps spread the word about the podcast. SHARE this episode with someone who wants to be challenged, pushed, and positioned to come up clutch more often. SUBSCRIBE so you don't miss out on any new episodes and Special Guests! Click that purple '+' in the top right corner of your Apple Podcasts app. LISTEN to previous episodes on Apple, Spotify, or whatever podcast platform you prefer!

P is for Primitive War   This week we get together to talk about the 2025 almost-masterpiece Primitive War   Vietnam. 1968. A recon unit known as Vulture Squad is sent to an isolated jungle valley to uncover the fate of a missing Green Beret platoon. They soon discover they are not alone.

What does it take to transition from nearly 20 years as a U.S. Army Green Beret to becoming one of the newest voices in military thriller fiction? In this powerful episode of MisFitNation, host Stephen Box sits down with US Army Special Forces veteran and author Alex Dekker for an inspiring conversation about leadership, resilience, purpose, and life after military service. Alex shares his incredible journey from serving with the legendary 5th Special Forces Group and U.S. Army Special Operations Command to writing his debut novel, Desert Heist. Drawing from years of deployments across Iraq, Afghanistan, and other high-risk environments, he discusses how real-world experiences shaped both his leadership philosophy and his storytelling. This episode dives deep into the realities of Special Operations, the misconceptions Hollywood gets wrong about Green Berets, the importance of discipline over motivation, and the challenging but rewarding transition from military service to becoming a published author with Simon & Schuster. Whether you're a veteran, active-duty service member, first responder, aspiring writer, leader, or simply a fan of military history and action thrillers, this conversation is packed with valuable lessons that extend far beyond the battlefield. In This Episode You'll Discover: Alex Dekker's journey from Army brat to Green Beret Life inside U.S. Army Special Forces Leadership lessons learned in combat The truth about Special Operations teams How Desert Heist was inspired by real experiences Transitioning from military service to publishing Building discipline, resilience, and purpose after service Advice for aspiring authors and veterans Why teamwork always beats the lone hero mentality The importance of checking on your brothers and sisters after service Alex also shares the incredible story of how a manuscript written between deployments eventually landed him a publishing deal with Simon & Schuster, proving that persistence, preparation, and purpose can open doors you never imagined. If you're searching for authentic conversations about military service, leadership, personal growth, and overcoming life's toughest challenges, this is an episode you won't want to miss. Subscribe to MisFitNation for more conversations with military veterans, first responders, entrepreneurs, authors, athletes, and everyday heroes who continue serving long after the uniform comes off. About Alex Dekker Alex Dekker is a retired U.S. Army Green Beret who spent nearly two decades serving in Special Operations, including assignments with the legendary 5th Special Forces Group and U.S. Army Special Operations Command. A Georgetown University graduate, Arabic speaker, lifelong student of history, and world traveler, Alex now brings his real-world experiences to life through military fiction with his debut novel, Desert Heist. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dillon shares everything you need to know about the Vertical Design Build Summit, returning October 1st in Chicagoland. With speakers from Quanta Services, Helix Electric, McCarthy, and a Green Beret leader, the intimate 100-seat event covers workforce, pre-construction, leadership, and company growth. Dillon also reflects on what made last year's inaugural summit so memorable — and why this year's is going to be even better.

The Army told Paul Benfield he was colorblind. That left him two job options: mortician, or truck driver. So he enlisted as a human resources clerk instead. On purpose. Because the human resources clerk is the person who files the transfer paperwork. Retired US Army Major Paul Benfield served 21 years, from a broke peacetime Army in 1997 to the Pentagon in 2018. He enlisted, went to war, came back, commissioned as an officer, and did it all again. He was in a hangar in Hungary on September 11th, 2001, five days after his first daughter was born. He took an RPG to his truck in Fallujah. He raided the wrong house in Baghdad. And he is one of the few people who can tell you honestly what changed across the entire Global War on Terror, because he saw it from the bottom and from the top. Michael Schwartz has known him since high school. They were next door neighbors. Michael tried to talk him out of enlisting, and says so on the record. This is not a special operations highlight reel. It is a career, start to finish, told by a friend. Chapters: 0:00 Cold open 2:28 Why this interview, 25 years after 9/11 5:33 Meet retired US Army Major Paul Benfield 6:36 The peacetime Army: saying "bang bang" because there was no money for blanks 11:03 He went to Airborne School before he ever joined the Army 13:33 Colorblind: your choices are mortician or truck driver 16:11 The loophole: enlist as the clerk who files the paperwork 16:56 Korea, the 82nd, and the plan backfiring 18:20 The phone call from JSOC, February 2001 19:58 What JSOC was actually doing before 9/11 26:51 September 11th: a hangar in Hungary and a colonel who thought it was a drill 31:16 Tracking casualties, and six hours total in Afghanistan 35:41 "Done by Christmas," and the whack-a-mole that followed 38:02 Afghan small arms: AKs, PKMs, and a British Enfield 42:47 Becoming an officer, and curing his own colorblindness 48:15 What "human resources" means at a tier one unit 52:23 M16 to M4: the rail system that changed everything 55:22 Ranger, Green Beret, Delta: who is who 1:00:29 Why nobody can tell you how Delta picks 1:04:30 Hollywood and the broken veteran myth 1:09:22 Ranger School, and the vendetta that backfired 1:15:50 Sadr City during the surge 1:20:52 The RPG that hit his truck and did not go off 1:29:45 "We shot him on purpose. He was just the wrong guy." 1:38:19 Two definitions of corruption 1:41:15 Kabul falling 1:44:07 1997 to 2018: what actually changed 1:45:38 Twenty one years, four kids, and a marriage that survived it 1:49:33 "I told him it was the stupidest idea. I was wrong." 1:51:29 Is the war on terror even over? If you served, if you have a kid thinking about enlisting, or if you have only ever seen this war through a movie, this one is worth your time. New episodes premiere every Sunday at 5 PM PT. More at gunownersradio.com #GunOwnersRadio #Veterans #WarOnTerror #ArmyVeteran #MilitaryHistory

Today I'm joined by John Franklin and Curtis Hill. John is a former Green Beret who was forced out of the military over the COVID vaccine mandate and is now running for Congress, challenging the Republican establishment on medical freedom, government spending and the concentration of power in Washington. Former Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill joins me to discuss Fauci, the lessons of the COVID era, government overreach, race and policing, his family's extraordinary experience during the civil rights movement — and his unexpected talent for Elvis Presley impressions.   Curativa Bay is a veteran-owned American company that has been pioneering stabilized hypochlorous acid (HOCl) technology since 2016 — years before HOCl became a mainstream skincare, disinfectant, and wellness ingredient. Hypochlorous acid is a molecule naturally produced by the body's immune system. Curativa Bay has spent nearly a decade refining stabilized HOCl formulations designed for everyday applications ranging from skincare and wound care to personal hygiene, pet care, and non-toxic home cleaning. The company's focus is simple: purity, science, transparency, and giving families effective alternatives without unnecessary fragrances, dyes, alcohols, phosphates, surfactants, or harsh additives. Learn more about Curativa Bay: curativabay.com/russell To get a free audio copy of my book 'How to Become a Christian in 7 Days', you can download it at https://www.russellbrand.com/how-to-become-a-christian-audiobook/ Order my new book 'How to Become Christian in 7 Days' at https://bit.ly/russellbook2 Listen to Jake's new album - https://bit.ly/JakeSmithAlbum If you want to support the show and take care of yourself properly—without turning your bathroom into a laboratory—go to tryreborn.com. It's the Reborn store: supplements, skincare, daily essentials… simple, effective, and made for people who are trying to stay strong while the world does whatever this is. Go check out tryreborn.com and grab what you need Go to http://polymarket.com to trade on the outcomes of live events from politics, pop culture, to sports and more! Take Control of Your Money Easily with Rumble Wallet. Download now at http://wallet.rumble.com/brand.  This is a paid advertisement for Rumble Wallet. Rumble is compensating me for this ad.  

Paul Evans joined the U.S. Navy as a young adult but after three years on ships he left the service. A short time later, he enlisted in the U.S. Army. Before long, he was pursuing Army Special Forces. His job as a Green Beret would take him to the Gulf War and later to Afghanistan as one of the renowned "Horse Soldiers" just weeks after 9/11.In this edition of Veterans Chronicles, Evans tells us what valuable lessons he learned during the Gulf War that he put to good use in later conflicts. he also explains how Operational Detachment Alpha 595 (ODA 595) was going to be dismantled until the 9/11 attacks. Then their experience and skills became extremely valuable.Evans also shares how their assignment in theater changed twice before they were tasked with helping General Abdul Rashid Dostum push the Taliban out of Mazar-i-Sharif, how ODA 595 was split up to help their new Afghan allies be as effective as possible, and how they called in devastating U.S. airpower against the enemy.He also takes us inside the fighting leading up to Mazar-i-Sharif and how the Taliban fled, with one notable exception.Don't miss this inside look at some of the first U.S. action following the worst terrorist attacks in U.S. history.

Democrats Drop Out in Idaho and South Dakota. Media Blitz Pod The rigged two-party system delivered another round of primary results this week, and the pattern is impossible to miss: the extremes keep winning the nominations while roughly 44% of Americans who identify as independent get shoved further to the margins. In Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed squeaked past Haley Stevens in a race that was supposed to be close and somehow got closer — and now Democrats have ninety days to figure out whether a DSA-aligned progressive can hold a battleground state they cannot afford to lose. Paul Rieckhoff joins the news desk from Detroit alongside Lauren Wright and former Congressman Conor Lamb to lay out the stakes with no spin and no jersey. From there the conversation widens to the races nobody in cable news is covering yet. Democrats have dropped out in both Idaho and South Dakota, clearing the runway for independent veterans Todd Achilles and Brian Bangs to go head-to-head against Republican incumbents. In Montana, Green Beret and Rhodes Scholar Dan Bodnar is running as an independent — if the Democrat will finally step aside and stop playing spoiler. It is a real-time test of an alternate theory of the case: that the way to beat entrenched incumbents is not to nominate a mirror-image extremist, but to run rooted, mission-first veterans who can actually reach the middle. This is what the map looks like when you stop pretending the two parties speak for everyone. -WATCH full video of this episode here. -Check the IVA overview of Washington State's primary this week.  -Millions of American veterans are being locked out of primary elections in the country they served. See what we're doing to change that. -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything. Use code [INDEPENDENT] to get ten dollars when you trade ten. -Head to cozyearth.com and use the code AMERICANS for an exclusive 20% off. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Join IVA and help us get independent veterans elected to office. -Learn more about Paul's work to elect a new generation of independent leaders with Independent Veterans of America. -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here. -Remember Independent is an Attitude. -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area. Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It's a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all podcast platforms Read more at Substack Support ad-free episodes at Patreon  Connect: Instagram  • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook  Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power.  -And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year.  Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media.  And now part of the BLEAV network!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

"Let's F***ing Go." Dem Drops Out in South Dakota: Brian Bengs vs Mike Rounds Is On. Two Independent Vets Win in Washington While Their County Burns.  Michigan is not Manhattan. That's the through-line of this one. The Democratic primary in Michigan handed the U.S. Senate nomination to Abdul El-Sayed, a far-left progressive in a state where roughly 17% of voters are independent and Mike Rogers is waiting on the Republican side. Paul Rieckhoff calls it what it is: another gift from a rigged two-party primary system to the MAGA machine, and one more reason the Democrats will not save you. The Bernie-vs-Schumer civil war is nominating candidates who can't galvanize independents or win general elections — and it's happening on the biggest stages in the country. But this episode is also a scoreboard for the independent veteran movement. In South Dakota, Democrat Julian Bedouin dropped out, clearing a one-on-one between IVA-endorsed independent veteran Brian Bengs and Republican Mike Rounds. In Idaho, Todd Achilles is head-to-head with 83-year-old Jim Risch. In Montana, spoiler candidate Alani Bankhead is being called on to step aside for Green Beret and Rhodes Scholar Seth Bodnar. And in Washington's top-two nonpartisan primary — the fairest system in the country — four independent vets ran while the wildfires burned, and at least two are moving on to November. Michigan is what wrong looks like. Washington is what right looks like. This is the map. -WATCH full video of this episode here. -Check the IVA overview of Washington State's primary this week.  -Millions of American veterans are being locked out of primary elections in the country they served. See what we're doing to change that. -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything. Use code [INDEPENDENT] to get ten dollars when you trade ten. -Head to cozyearth.com and use the code AMERICANS for an exclusive 20% off. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Join IVA and help us get independent veterans elected to office. -Learn more about Paul's work to elect a new generation of independent leaders with Independent Veterans of America. -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here. -Remember Independent is an Attitude. -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area. Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It's a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all podcast platforms Read more at Substack Support ad-free episodes at Patreon  Connect: Instagram  • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook  Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power.  -And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year.  Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media.  And now part of the BLEAV network!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Mike Glover served 18 years in Army Special Forces, worked as a contractor for the CIA, founded Fieldcraft Survival, and wrote the national bestseller Prepared. He's been on this show before. A lot has happened since. The legal case that consumed the last 18 months is finished. He talks about the week he spent locked up — teaching breathing drills in a holding cell full of hard dudes — what the arrest cost him, and how family and a small circle of friends carried him through. Fieldcraft dissolved. He bought the pieces back. Now he's rebuilding it from the roots. There's also a long stretch on the bin Laden story — O'Neill, Bissonette, the recorded debrief, the point man, and litigation nobody needed. Plus Roberts Ridge, the Jessica Lynch raid, Tillman, and why drama in the special operations community has real downstream consequences. TRT, alcohol, helicopters, faith, veteran suicide, and a tribute to a Green Beret they called Swede.   Join the Cleared Hot Newsletter: https://www.clearedhotpodcast.com Take the Operator Code Assessment: https://www.theoperatorcode.com   Today's Sponsors:  Black Rifle Coffee:  https://www.blackriflecoffee.com Brunt: For a limited time listeners can get ten dollars off at BRUNT when you use code "Clearedhot" at checkout. Just head to https://www.BRUNTWorkwear.com, and while you're there, enter THE BRUNT POTTY OF GOLD SWEEPSTAKES for your chance to win fifty thousand dollars.

Sterling Seizert spent his career as a US Army Special Forces Green Beret, serving as a senior communications and intelligence sergeant in 10th Special Forces Group and as a Special Operations liaison at the US Embassy in Nigeria. When he transitioned out, he carried the same discipline into entrepreneurship, and today he's the founder of Patriot Capital and Legends Lodge, overseeing eight self storage facilities worth over 58 million dollars and serving 3,100 clients. He's also the author of the new book Buy Your Freedom. This one goes deeper than either man expected. Sterling opens with a harrowing 2013 combat story, then he and Larry get into how training builds calm under pressure, servant leadership in marriage, raising daughters who hold themselves to a standard, and why honesty in a home should be celebrated rather than punished. If you want a masterclass in staying grounded when the stakes are high, this is it.   Timeline Summary [2:54] – The 2013 mission in northwest Africa and the firefight that changed everything [6:11] – Holding a soldier's heart and being told to keep the rhythm [8:11] – Did training take over, or was there disbelief in the moment? [10:26] – How repetition inoculates you to the sights, sounds, and smells of the battlefield [12:32] – Advice for the average man facing his own hard situation [14:25] – Why action creates clarity and keeps you out of rumination [15:11] – The full bio: Green Beret, Nigeria, and 58 million in self storage [17:36] – Growing up in small-town Wisconsin and a colder father [20:59] – The deep question: would he still eat Taco Bell knowing what he knows? [22:21] – Did quitting ever cross his mind in selection? It never did [26:07] – The frozen ambush in North Carolina and putting suffering in perspective [30:35] – Getting recycled through small unit tactics and choosing to be an asset [32:09] – The first responder divorce rate and how he and Rebecca stayed tight [32:36] – Marriage as service, and why keeping score never works [35:09] – Serving your wife without becoming the nice guy or the domineering man [38:33] – Servant leadership, apologizing, and holding a standard at the same time [39:03] – Larry and Sterling compare their household standards for conflict [41:07] – The one question that disarms almost any argument with someone close [43:44] – The plan for when his daughters start dating, sniper school included [45:10] – Raising strong daughters to look for ambition and a standard [48:14] – What this generation of young men is missing, from social media to porn [52:03] – Cultivating real connection with daughters in the teenage years [54:13] – The one hard rule he'll raise his voice over, and why honesty gets celebrated [57:29] – The two books that changed his life, plus his own new release   5 Key Takeaways Action Creates Clarity — When you're facing something hard, assess what needs to get done and execute in order. Movement keeps you out of the rumination loop and steadily reveals the next right step. Marriage Is Service, Not Score — Approach your marriage as the person there to serve, and assume your spouse will meet you halfway. Keeping score guarantees you'll always find a way to justify why you're winning. Serve Without Being a Doormat — Servant leadership isn't groveling and it isn't domineering. Hold a real standard for how you're treated, model that same standard yourself, and pick the battles that actually matter. Assume the Best Interest — In conflict with someone close, ask whether they truly lack your family's best interest at heart. Nine times out of ten they don't, which turns the fight into the two of you against the problem. Celebrate Honesty, Don't Punish It — Make ownership safe. When kids know honesty is welcomed rather than met with punishment, you can address the actual problem instead of untangling a lie on top of it.   Links & Resources Episode page and all links: https://thedadedge.com/1510 Join the Dad Edge Alliance: https://thedadedge.com/join Dad Edge Boardroom Goal Setting Intensive (July 31, 8am central): https://thedadedge.com/goals Buy Your Freedom by Sterling Seizert: https://a.co/d/0fwMJAzB   Enjoyed This Episode? If Sterling's line about action creating clarity gave you something to hold onto, put it to work this week. Send this episode to a man who's stuck ruminating instead of moving, and take one honest look at the standards you're actually modeling at home. If the show keeps delivering, follow, rate, and leave a review so more fathers can find these conversations.

In 1947, the Army announced it had recovered a crashed "flying disc" near Roswell, then reversed itself within a day — a contradiction the Air Force didn't explain until 1994, when it revealed a classified spy program called Project Mogul. Roswell wasn't even the first: unidentified wreckage and bodies had been turning up for decades before it.EPISODE BLOG PAGE (includes sources): https://weirddarkness.com/RoswellWasntFirstFEATURED STORIES IN THIS EPISODE: When you hear the words “UFO crash” you likely think of Roswell, New Mexico in 1947. And while that is the most famous of supposed extraterrestrial spaceship crashes, it is by no means the first. In fact, there were several taking place before Roswell became a household name. (UFO Crashes Before Roswell) *** But first – we'll take a look at Roswell itself… and what might have been behind the crash, the UFOs, and the aliens! (Behind Roswell's Aliens) *** Numerous travelers have gone missing in Nahanni Valley… and many whose bodies have been found, have been decapitated. It's no wonder it has been nicknamed “The Valley of Headless Men”. (The Valley of Headless Men) *** In 2016, construction in a San Francisco family's backyard unearthed a terrifying find… a glass coffin. And the history behind it tells a morbid history of the city. (The Karner's Backyard Glass Coffin) *** Former Green Beret Jeffrey MacDonald claimed that a gang of acid-crazed Manson Family copycats brutally murdered his pregnant wife and two daughters in 1970, but then he was found guilty. Did he commit the crime, or did the law convict the wrong man? (The Evil Deeds of Jeffrey MacDonald) *** It's understood that scientifically, alchemy – attempting to turn a substance or element into gold – is impossible. But then, there is that one incident that took place in the early seventeenth century that has some people wondering if that's wrong. (The Alchemy Master)CHAPTERS & TIME STAMPS (All Times Approximate)…00:00:00.000 = The Foreboding00:01:27.594 = Show Open00:03:47.621 = Behind Roswell's Aliens / UFO Crashes Before Roswell00:19:45.640 = The Valley of Headless Men ***00:33:18.357 = The Karner's Backyard Glass Coffin00:44:54.640 = The Evil Deeds of Jeffrey MacDonald ***00:55:31.498 = The Alchemy Master01:02:26.698 = Show Close*** = Begins immediately after inserted ad breakLISTEN ON PODCAST APPS: Look for this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio, Amazon Music, Pandora, TuneIn Radio, and other podcast apps. Get a list of free listening apps here: https://weirddarkness.com/wdapps*No AI Voices Are Used In The Narration Of This Podcast*SOURCES and RESOURCES:“Behind Roswell's Aliens” by Adam Janos for History.com: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/yd5fhudu“UFO Crashes Before Roswell” from Anomalien.com: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/2w6d76yh“The Valley of Headless Men” by Aleksa Vuckovic for Ancient-Origins.net: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/2p9c6zf4“The Evil Deeds of Jeffrey MacDonald” by Marco Margaritoff for AllThatsInteresting.com: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/2p8eant7“The Alchemy Master” by Ellen Lloyd for AncientPages.com: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/4xzysbwc“The Karner's Backyard Glass Coffin” by Trilby Beresford for Ranker.com's Graveyard Shift:https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/3mpvk9jh(Over time links may become invalid, disappear, or have different content. I always make sure to give authors credit for the material I use whenever possible. If I somehow overlooked doing so for a story, or if a credit is incorrect, please let me know and I will rectify it in these show notes immediately. Some links included above may benefit me financially through qualifying purchases.)WeirdDarkness® is a registered trademark. Copyright ©2026, Weird Darkness.Originally aired: January 2021This episode of Weird Darkness moves from a classified Cold War balloon program in the New Mexico desert to a Canadian valley littered with decapitated bodies, a Victorian child's glass coffin dug up in a San Francisco backyard, a Green Beret convicted of butchering his own family, and a seventeenth-century alchemist tortured for the secret of turning lead into gold.It opens with the 1947 Roswell crash, tracing how rancher W.W. "Mac" Brazel's discovery of wreckage on his Lincoln County property led Colonel William Blanchard's Roswell Army Air Field to announce the capture of a "flying disc," only for the Army to reverse itself within days and blame a weather balloon, complete with staged photos of Major Jesse Marcel posing with the debris. The story follows the account through the U.S. Air Force's 1994 admission that the wreckage actually came from Project Mogul, a secret high-altitude balloon array built to detect Soviet atomic tests, and its 1997 explanation that reported alien bodies were fallen parachute test dummies, then weighs those official conclusions against UFO researcher Donald Schmitt's objections and journalist Annie Jacobsen's competing claim that the crash involved deformed children deployed by Joseph Stalin and designed by Nazi doctor Josef Mengele.From there, the episode moves through six UFO crash reports that predate Roswell by decades, including an 1897 cigar-shaped craft said to have destroyed Judge Proctor's windmill in Aurora, Texas, and left a small humanoid body buried in the local cemetery; an 1862 wreck witnessed by shipwrecked sailors from the vessel Christine on a deserted Indian Ocean island, where they found twelve-foot-tall bodies with bronze beards; a UFO crash near Stavropol, Russia, whose three survivors reportedly died from being unable to breathe Earth's atmosphere; a 1941 crash in the Carolinas recovered by the U.S. Army during a military exercise involving soldier Guy Simeone; an 1884 debris field of gear-like metal fragments found by rancher John Ellis in Dundy County, Nebraska; and a wartime British crash investigated by journalist Dorothy Kilgallen, who died shortly after publishing claims that the recovered craft's crew stood under four feet tall.Next, the story shifts to Canada's Nahanni Valley, where at least 44 people have died or vanished since 1908, beginning with prospector brothers Willie and Frank McLeod, whose headless skeletons were found at their camp two years after they disappeared, and continuing through the decapitations of Swiss prospector Martin Jorgenson and outlaw "Yukon" Fisher, the mysterious cabin fire that killed Phil Powers, and the vanishing of Annie Laferte, who was later spotted wandering naked and disoriented near the Flat River — deaths locals attribute variously to the legendary Naha tribe, the valley's hot sulphur springs, or predators, while Dene oral history holds that the warlike Naha people simply disappeared without explanation.The episode then turns to 2016, when a construction crew remodeling John and Ericka Karner's San Francisco home unearthed a 19th-century glass-and-cast-iron coffin containing the preserved body of a toddler, later identified through DNA testing led by genealogist Elissa Davey as Edith Howard Cook, who died of malnutrition in 1876 and was accidentally left behind when San Francisco's Odd Fellows Cemetery was relocated to Colma in the 1930s — a discovery the Karner family says ended years of unexplained footsteps they'd heard from a toddler no longer in the house.From there, the story follows former Green Beret Jeffrey MacDonald, convicted of stabbing his pregnant wife Colette and daughters Kimberly and Kristen to death at Fort Bragg in 1970 after claiming a blonde intruder chanting about acid and "pigs" oversaw the killings, an account investigators concluded was staged using details from the recent Manson Family murders; the case follows his decades of appeals, including the 1983 bestseller "A Fatal Vision" that branded him a psychopath and filmmaker Errol Morris's later book arguing the evidence against him was mishandled.The episode closes with the story of Alexander Seton, a secretive Scottish alchemist known as the Cosmopolitan, who in 1602 convinced skeptical Swiss professor Wolfgang Drenheim that he had transmuted lead into gold using nothing but a wrapped powder and a goldsmith's crucible in Fribourg. Seton's success drew the attention of Emperor Rudolf II and later trapped him in the custody of Christian II, Elector of Saxony, who had him pierced with iron spikes and burned with molten lead in an attempt to force him to reveal his formula; Seton escaped in 1603 with the help of his friend Michael Sendivogius but died a broken man soon after, and the alchemical text he was said to have written, the Book of Twelve Chapters, was destroyed, leaving his method lost.

Ross Schneiderman spent his career as a reporter and editor. Newsweek, The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, ESPN. He covered mixed martial arts, then ran a foreign desk working alongside Afghan and Pakistani correspondents. In 2016 he wrote a Newsweek cover story about Mohammad Gulab, the Afghan villager who sheltered Marcus Luttrell. He never went to Afghanistan. He never covered a war. He spent six years piecing this one together anyway. For twenty years, Operation Red Wings has been told one way. Lone Survivor turned it into a legend. He FOIA'd the documents. He read the MERC chat, the debriefs, the after-action reports. He interviewed SEALs, Green Berets, and Afghan sources who were there. What he found doesn't match the movie. We go through it in order. The comms that were supposedly never made, and the records that say otherwise. The vote that never happened. The phone call, and who really made it. The stinger missile that wasn't. And why a story meant to honor four men became a recruiting tool built on things that weren't true. This isn't about tearing anyone down. Many men died doing the best they could in a terrible spot and situation. This is about what happens when an institution picks the myth over the truth. Politico Article: https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2026/03/20/operation-red-wings-lone-survivor-luttrell-00833548 Today's Sponsors:    Montana Knife Company:  https://www.montanaknifecompany.com Firecracker Farm:  https://www.firecracker.farm

Kyle Morgan spent over twenty years in the Army. Infantry, then Green Beret, then more than a decade in the nation's premier special missions unit running hostage rescue. In 2015 he was advising the U.S. Embassy in Mali when terrorists took the Radisson Blu hotel. He built a team on the fly and went in. The award for that was the Distinguished Service Cross, second only to the Medal of Honor. Today he runs Blu Bearing, trains police and civilians, and serves on the board of Frontline Healing Foundation. When the job ends the machine has already forgotten about you, and he'll tell you that isn't cruel because it has to forget you to keep moving. The guys who come apart are the ones still trying to replace something that can't be replaced. He didn't leave the way he wanted to. There was addiction, a DUI he hid, and an overdose that nearly ended it, and his old command circled the wagons around him more than once before he finally made it out. Sobriety and faith are what brought him back, almost five years of it now, and he spends his time pointing at the cost so the next guy doesn't pay it blind. He'll tell you he's more proud of the husband and father he is today than anything he ever did downrange.  Blu Bearing Solutions: ⁠https://blubearing.com/⁠ Join the Cleared Hot Newsletter: ⁠https://www.clearedhot.com⁠ Take the Operator Code Assessment: ⁠https://www.theoperatorcode.com⁠ Today's Sponsors:  Black Rifle Coffee:  ⁠https://www.blackriflecoffee.com⁠ LMNT: ⁠https://www.drinklmnt.com